Paper on Depression

Thresa BigMan University of phoenix PSY270 Week 4 Depression paper Depression is a mental illness that a lot of individuals have in today’s society. According to the University of Phoenix fundamentals of abnormal psychology, describes many different mood disorders that effect many people today, “Depression is a low, sad state in which life seems dark and its challenges overwhelming.

Depression can be an illness that can be manageable to an individual that has mild symptoms there are cases of depression that can be so severe that it can take over someone’s life in the aspect that it is manageable with daily living assistance and treatment plans that include assisted living environment and anti-depressants. Patients can even be misdiagnosed to have other disorders if not have a proper evaluation.

Mania, the opposite of depression, is a state of breathless euphoria, or at least frenzied energy, in which people may have an exaggerated belief that the world is theirs for the taking. Most people with a mood disorder suffer only from depression, a pattern called unipolar depression. ” When an individual has no history of mania and after the episode return to their normal mood others may experience periods of mania that o back and forth with periods of depression in a somewhat of a pattern is called bipolar disorder. (University of phoenix, 2011).

Many individuals of all walks of life suffer from mood disorders according to the University of Phoenix Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (2011), “Mood disorders also have plagued such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O’Neill, Virginia Woolf, and Sylvia Plath. ” Mood disorders have different stages of symptoms, according to the university of phoenix fundamentals of psychology (2011), “The symptoms, which often feed upon one another, p five areas of functioning: emotional, motivational, behavioral, cognitive, and physical. Emotional symptoms can have the individual feeling miserable, humiliated, and sad. In severe cases many individuals can suffer from anhedonia which can cause the patient to have the inability to feel pleasure. They begin to have no self-worth. Motivational symptoms can include according to the University of Phoenix Fundamentals of psychology (2011), “Depressed people typically lose the desire to pursue their usual activities. Almost all report a lack of drive, initiative, and spontaneity. They may have to force themselves to go to work, talk with friends, eat meals, or have sex. The patient will not have any motivation to get up and get out of bed at times. Motivational symptoms could be that a patient doesn’t want to do anything and has to force one self to do the littlest of things in their daily life. Behavioral symptoms include behaviors where the individual becomes less active productive. Cognitive symptoms people see themselves in a very negative light and do not have a high self-worth when they accomplish something that is very substantial they do not see it in the right regards to see what they did was successful.

Physical symptoms can include headaches, nausea, vomiting and sleeping issues. Physical symptoms can vary from person to person when it comes to mood disorders. Many times physical symptoms can often cloud proper diagnoses to mood disorders, according to the University of Phoenix Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (2011), “In fact, many depressions are misdiagnosed as medical problems at first. Disturbances in appetite and sleep are particularly common (Neckelmann et al. , 2007; Genchi et al. 2004). Most depressed people eat less, sleep less, and feel more fatigued than they did prior to the disorder. Proper diagnoses are often over looked because of all the physical symptoms that a person with a mood disorder can develop. Often the symptoms are treated before depression is diagnosed. When diagnosing unipolar depression, according to the University of Phoenix Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (2011), “People who experience a major depressive episode without having any history of mania receive a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. Individuals who display a longer-lasting but less disabling pattern of unipolar depression may receive a diagnosis of dysthymic disorder.

Bipolar I disorder have full manic and major depressive episodes. Most of them experience an alternation of the episodes; for example, weeks of mania followed by a period of wellness, followed, in turn, by an episode of depression. Some people, however, have mixed episodes, in which they swing from manic to depressive symptoms and back again on the same day. In bipolar II disorder, hypomanic—that is, mildly manic—episodes alternate with major depressive episodes over the course of time.

When dysthymic disorder leads to maojr depressive disorder, the sequence is called double depression (Taube-Schiff & Lau, 2008). ” Unipolar depression is often triggered when the individual is experiencing extreme stress. Forms of treatment for these types of mood disorders may include antidepressants, individual therapy, and in extreme cases an individual may have to be under constant care as the disorder has caused them to not be able to maintain their normal quality of life and may be harmful to themselves or others.

Group and family therapy can be an effective form of treatment for patients. According to the University of Phoenix Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (2011), “Family-Social Treatments Therapists who use family and social approaches to treat depression help clients change how they deal with the close relationships in their lives. The most effective family-social approaches are interpersonal psychotherapy and couple therapy. ” Anti-depressants are commonly given as a part of the treatment plan for a patient.

According to the University of Phoenix Fundamentals of abnormal psychology (2011), “Two kinds of drugs discovered in the 1950s reduce the symptoms of depression: monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors and tricyclic’s. ” Proper diagnoses are the most important part about treating any mental disorder. Many times physical symptoms cloud the illness. When treating this disorder it is important to diagnose to be accurate because often these types of disorders are often prescribed antidepressants as a way to treat the illness.

After proper accurate diagnoses developing a treatment plan to determine what types of treatments would the patient benefit from. Assisting the patient in a proper evaluation to diagnose correctly is also a way for the patient to learn what is a normal mood or reaction to events or stress that happens in their life time can help determine what the patient is experiencing and often even why. Treatment and proper diagnoses goes hand in hand they are as important to the patient. References University of phoenix. (2011). Fundamentals of psychology. Retrieved from University of phoenix, PSY270 website.